Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle Reading App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

The Ninth Amendment has had a remarkably robust history, playing a role in almost every significant constitutional debate in American history, including the controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts, the struggle over slavery, and the constitutionality of the New Deal. Until very recently, however, this history has been almost completely lost due to a combination of historical accident, mistaken assumptions, and misplaced historical documents. Drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, most never before included in any book on the Ninth Amendment or the Bill of Rights, Kurt T. Lash recovers the lost history of the Ninth Amendment and explores how its original understanding can be applied to protect the people's retained rights today.

The most important aspect of The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment is its presentation of newly uncovered historical evidence which calls into question the currently presumed meaning and application of the Ninth Amendment. The evidence not only challenges the traditional view regarding the original meaning of the Ninth Amendment, it also falsifies the common assumption that the Amendment lay dormant prior to the Supreme Court's "discovery" of the clause in Griswold v. Connecticut.

As a history of the Ninth Amendment, the book recapitulates the history of federalism in America and the idea that local self-government is a right retained by the people. This issue has particular contemporary salience as the Supreme Court considers whether states have the right to authorize medicinal use of marijuana, refuse to assist the enforcement of national laws like the Patriot Act, or regulate physician-assisted suicide. The meaning of the Ninth Amendment has played a key role in past Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices and the current divide on the Court regarding the meaning of the Ninth Amendment makes it likely the subject will come up again during the next set of hearings.

"A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption"
Various interest groups encamped in the District of Columbia mean we now have a special interest democracy. Find out more

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kurt Lash has made a major contribution to the historical debate over the meaning of the Ninth Amendment. Everyone interested in this crucial and ongoing debate should read this book." --Michael Kent Curtis, Wake Forest School of Law

"Kurt Lash's book explores the unexamined and overlooked dimensions to how the Ninth Amendment found its way into the Federal Constitution and, arguably, had a 'life' long before its 'discovery' by the modern Supreme Court in the 1960's. He also recognizes the collective aspect of rights, which is frequently overlooked in the traditional focus of individual rights. The argument hinging on the interpretation and understanding of the Constitution alone is quite complicated, but Professor Lash presents a clear argument with solid research that helps stimulates a re-thinking of the conventional treatment of the Ninth Amendment." --Christian G. Fritz, University of New Mexico School of Law

"The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment is magnificent. The Ninth is at the center of important debates about constitutional method and substance. Lash's work on this enigmatic provision has already provoked an explosion of new scholarship - for good reasons. Lash has done something rare and extraordinary - uncovering genuinely new historical evidence about the origins and early interpretation of the Ninth. Lash also has a powerful and original theory of the Ninth's purpose - emphasizing the political powers of 'We the People' and rediscovering the amendment as a lynchpin of popular sovereignty. Lash's book will be debated for years to come." --Lawrence Solum, University of Illinois College of Law

About the Author

Kurt Lash holds the James P. Bradley Chair in Constitutional Law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. After graduating from Yale Law School, Professor Lash served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert R. Beezer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Lash has published numerous journal articles on constitutional history and he has served as the Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Constitutional Law.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Dr Lash has evidenced significant scholarship in this monumental work. One can only hope the efforts he extended will find there way into the larger political consciousness where his research concerning the Ninth Amendment belongs. His valid assertion that the Ninth Amendment is a guide to interpreting the national powers is thoroughly convincing, and historically accurate.His examination of the Ratifying Conventions of the Constitution, the vigorous diligence of Madison in ushering the Bill of Rights through a reticent Congress, and the issues of Ratifying the Bill of Rights, brings his thesis beyond probable to the realm of historical fact. The work provides beyond the realm of Constitutional Interpretation a concomitant starting point for a deeper historical comprehension of Madison's reactions to Hamilton's Bank Bill. Considering the evidence and chronology Dr Lash presented doubts about Madison's motives concerning the necessary and proper clause can be viewed in new lights. The Preamble to the Bill of Rights includes the following explanation:THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

The idea of preventing misconstruction or an inaccurate explanation or interpretation, in the very document that was forwarded to the States with the Bill of Rights reinforces the concepts Dr lash advances. The Ninth Amendment's own words 'shall not be construed' points again to Dr Lash peremptory claim the Ninth is a guard against errant interpretation.Read more ›